Lior Simon

Background

Lior Simon is a General Partner at Cyberstarts, a cybersecurity-focused early-stage venture capital fund founded by Gili Raanan in 2018 ¹. She joined Cyberstarts in 2020 ².

Simon began her venture capital career at Sequoia Capital in 2012, starting in the back office while studying industrial engineering and management at Shenkar College ³. She was promoted to analyst after conversations with Sequoia partners, and later described her role as “the gateway into the fund,” meeting approximately 1,200 portfolio companies annually ³. She served as an Analyst at Sequoia Capital from 2012 to 2015, then as an Associate from 2015 to 2017 ⁴. During her time at Sequoia, she was a Board Observer of multiple portfolio companies and participated in M&A deals including Kontera, Wilocity, Sansa, DensBits, and Streamrail ⁵.

In January 2016, Simon founded one of Israel’s first fintech-focused funds, serving as Head of Israel for Arbor Ventures, a Hong Kong-based firm ³⁵. She later rejoined her former Sequoia colleague Gili Raanan to launch Cyberstarts in 2020 ³.

Simon currently serves on the boards of Cyera, Oasis Security, and Zafran Security ¹. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Management from Shenkar College (2010-2013) ⁴.

Stated Thesis

Simon has publicly stated that she believes in a focused investment model. She told Calcalist: “being very focused helps you become a better investor and offer more value to your founders” ³. Cyberstarts invests exclusively in cybersecurity at the seed stage, often before a company has incorporated — Simon has noted that 16 of 17 Cyberstarts investments were made before company incorporation ³.

Simon has described her decision-making as intuition-driven, stating on the Cyberstarts website that she relies on intuition as her primary compass ¹. She looks for founders with exceptional energy, describing her ideal as: “The greatest entrepreneurs are pure energy — when they leave a room it lingers. When times get tough, they bounce back and find another way” ¹.

Cyberstarts’ broader approach centers on what the firm calls its “Sunrise” methodology, which validates founders through feedback loops with a network of 60+ Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) who pressure-test ideas from inception ⁶.

Inferred Thesis

Simon’s portfolio at Cyberstarts is exclusively cybersecurity, consistent with the firm’s stated focus. Based on 10 verified investments where Simon has a confirmed role (board seat or identified as lead/first investor), the following patterns emerge:

Sector breakdown (10 verified investments, all cybersecurity sub-sectors): - Data security / identity: 4 of 10 (40%) — Cyera, Oasis Security, Linx Security, Savvy - Cloud/application security: 2 of 10 (20%) — Zafran Security, Gambit Security - Security analytics: 1 of 10 (10%) — Vega - AI agent security: 1 of 10 (10%) — Onyx Security - Agentic security operations: 1 of 10 (10%) — Surf AI - Payment security: 1 of 10 (10%) — Trustmi

Stage distribution: Overwhelmingly seed-stage. Cyberstarts invests at the very earliest stages, frequently pre-incorporation ³.

Geographic concentration: All verified portfolio companies are Israeli-founded, consistent with Cyberstarts’ Israel-based operational model ¹⁶.

Founder profile patterns: Simon has shown a preference for founders with Israeli military intelligence backgrounds (Unit 8200 alumni feature prominently in the portfolio), including the founders of Gambit Security ⁷, Linx Security ⁸, and others. She has also backed first-time founders — she noted Vega’s founders “didn’t arrive as classic serial entrepreneurs with a well-known track record” ⁹.

Co-investor patterns: Sequoia Capital appears frequently as a co-investor in later rounds (Cyera, Zafran, Oasis), as does Accel (Cyera, Vega, Oasis). This reflects both Cyberstarts’ pedigree (Raanan and Simon are Sequoia alumni) and the strength of the firm’s portfolio companies attracting top-tier follow-on capital.

Check size: Signal by NFX reports a target investment of $1.5M with a range of $100K to $5M ⁴.

Note: This analysis is based on 10 investments where Simon’s personal involvement is confirmed. Cyberstarts as a firm has invested in 24+ companies ⁶, so this represents a subset of the full portfolio.

Portfolio

Companies where Lior Simon has a confirmed board seat or identified role as lead/first investor:

Additional Cyberstarts portfolio companies where Simon is listed as supporting (but specific role not confirmed): Wiz, Island, Fireblocks, Transmit Security ¹.

This table represents a subset of Cyberstarts’ full portfolio of 24+ investments. Simon personally serves on 3 boards (Cyera, Oasis, Zafran) and is confirmed as first/lead investor on several others.

In Their Own Words

“Being very focused helps you become a better investor and offer more value to your founders.” — Lior Simon, Calcalist interview ³

“The greatest entrepreneurs are pure energy — when they leave a room it lingers. When times get tough, they bounce back and find another way.” — Lior Simon, Cyberstarts website ¹

“At that stage, there were only Shay and Eli. They didn’t arrive as classic serial entrepreneurs with a well-known track record, but they had a unique energy, a combination of high self-confidence with humility and openness to learn.” — Lior Simon, on investing in Vega, Calcalist ⁹

“In a meeting between the three of us, we realized that we see the market 180 degrees opposite to how it has been conducted to date. Vega is not trying to fix the existing model; it is proposing a new architecture.” — Lior Simon, on Vega’s market thesis, Calcalist ⁹

“The fact that no ‘market education’ is required. The problem Vega solves is so painful and obvious that customers simply embrace the solution.” — Lior Simon, on Vega’s advantage, Calcalist ⁹

“From the moment we invested in Gambit at its early stage, we recognized that the team was tackling a challenge that is redefining the entire market. Their deep understanding of the field allows them to drive a fundamental shift in how organizations address evolving threats in a constantly changing environment, rather than relying on static defense systems.” — Lior Simon, on Gambit Security, Calcalist ¹⁸

“Women tend to feel they need more experience before they become entrepreneurs. You don’t.” — Lior Simon, Calcalist interview ³

“You can jump into the water just like others before you. And, you can fail and start over.” — Lior Simon, Calcalist interview ³

What Founders Say

Shay Sandler, CEO and co-founder of Vega, stated: “We knew we wanted to build a significant cyber company, and we knew we would do it with Cyberstarts even before they knew” ⁹.

Sandler also described the firm’s operational involvement: “Entrepreneurs naturally want to run fast and just build a product, but the process with Cyberstarts taught me to stop and build a backbone for the organization” ⁹.

Note: These quotes reference Cyberstarts broadly rather than Lior Simon individually, though Simon is identified as Vega’s first investor. No independently sourced founder testimonials specifically about Simon’s individual contributions were found.

Connections

• Board member, Cyera — data security company valued at $9B ¹¹
• Board member, Oasis Security — non-human identity management, raised $195M total ¹²
• Board member, Zafran Security — exposure management, raised $130M total ¹³
• Former Analyst/Associate, Sequoia Capital (2012-2017) — worked with Gili Raanan ³⁴
• Former Head of Israel, Arbor Ventures (2016-2020) ³⁵
• Cybersparx organizer — opened Cybersparx 2026, bringing together founders, CISOs, and VCs including a16z, Greylock, Accel, Index, Lightspeed, and Sequoia ¹⁹

Sources